SACRAMENTO – The Nets will go for their fifth straight win Sunday night when they face the Kings here at Sleep Train Arena (and yes, that’s the real name of the arena. I still call it Arco Arena, which was its name during the glory days for the Kings at the beginning of the 2000s).

Here are a few things to watch for, as the Nets go for their first five-game winning streak since March of 2011:

1. Taking care of business – The Kings come into Sunday’s game as the worst team in the league, according to net rating. They have the third-worst offensive rating in the NBA (94.0 points per 100 possessions), the 25th-best defensive rating (103.6) and the worst net differential (-9.6, even worse than the winless Washington Wizards).

In other words, the Kings stink. They had a players-only meeting after losing to Atlanta on Friday night. This is the kind of game – especially considering the fact that the Nets are starting off a three games in four nights stretch on the road – that good teams have to win, and ideally will win convincingly. We’ll see if that happens here.

2. Brook Lopez vs. DeMarcus Cousins – Cousins, who is averaging over 16 points and nearly 11 rebounds entering Sunday’s game, is one of the best young big men in the league, and is a terror on the glass. After Lopez and the Nets allowed Anderson Varejao to go wild in Tuesday’s win (35 points and 18 rebounds), they’ll need to keep Cousins from going off Sunday night, as that is one of the few ways the Kings could stay in the game.

It will be another interesting test for Lopez, who is up to 18.4 points per game and is blocking 2.6 shots a night, but still doesn’t have his rebounding numbers (currently at 6.6) where they need to be.

3. Third quarter performance – The Nets have been one of the worst third quarter teams in the NBA this season, with an incredible -25.8 net rating in the third quarter thanks to horrible offensive (85.7) and defensive (111.5) ratings. Those third quarter struggles have largely negated the tremendous second quarters the Nets have had, thanks in large part to the play of their bench (their second quarter net rating is +31.3).

The repeatedly terrible third quarters have allowed the Nets to let one opponent after another get back into games that they should have been able to close out with relative ease. We’ll see if they can avoid such a scenario against the Kings, who could potentially fold quickly if the Nets do what they should, as I talked about at the beginning.